First you create a disk image for your Windows (the disk image will be used to store data for the virtual hard drive in qemu). For example, to create a disk image (named winxp.img) of size 3GB:
qemu-img create winxp.img 3G
Have your Windows cdrom ready (either an iso or a physical cdrom disc). The following command boots up your Windows CD-ROM so that you can install on to your just created disk image winxp.img (-no-acpi is a must if you plan on using an accelerator with full acceleration (-kernel-kqemu option)):
qemu -L ./bios -cdrom winxp.iso -hda winxp.img -no-acpi -localtime -boot d
or if you have physical cds you want to install from:
(windows host)
qemu -L ./bios -cdrom //./D: -hda winxp.img -no-acpi -localtime -boot d
where D in //./D: is the drive letter of the host cdrom with the Windows install disc in it.
(*nix host)
qemu -cdrom /dev/cdrom -hda winxp.img -no-acpi -localtime -boot d
where /dev/cdrom is the node in /dev/ representing your host's cdrom device
You might need to put in -L bios. This is to indicate to QEMU where the folder the bios/rom images are. Besides, your disk image (winxp.img) is passed to QEMU by -hda winxp.img . If you want to put in more than 2 disk images, use -hdb diskd.img ,...).
Now you can install your windows version. Please consider formatting your drive with FAT(32) instead of NTFS if you got an error message (such as "cannot format") during the first step of the install.
After finishing the installation, you can start booting from your disk image:
qemu -L ./bios -hda winxp.img -localtime -boot c
Notes:
If using kqemu add -kernel-kqemu for improved performance - for XP, does NOT work during initial install phase.
Does not work with Win98SE -- guest and host lock when Win98SE reaches the login prompt.
Does not work with WinXP x64 -- guest induces Qemu failure at the login prompt.
Can be used during the *second* phase of the Windows XP install with -no-acpi
The bios path specifier '-L <path>' is typically only required when qemu is run on a Windows host.
In order to install windows 2000 use the -win2k-hack option
If your installation requires multiple cdrom discs then you will need to use the eject and change commands. These can be issued at the qemu monitor (when vm is in focus use ctrl-alt-2). ie:
(qemu) eject cdrom when working with iso images (qemu) change cdrom filename.iso when working with physical cdrom drive on Linux host (qemu) change cdrom /dev/cdrom when working with physical cdrom drive on Windows host (drive letter) (qemu) change cdrom //./D:
If your mouse stops working after the install, See this article, or open up the mouse properties window in the device manager, and remove the "Fast Initialization" checkbox under the advanced tab.